Monday, November 15, 2010

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Shredded Brussel Sprouts

So let's be honest with each other, shall we? Listen - I love food. I do. I love gourmet restaurants and I love making labor-intensive recipes. For the most part. But in the real world, I work a pretty stressful job that gets me home later in the evening. Quite frankly, the last thing I want to do is spend hours in the kitchen making dinner. But at the same time, I want good flavors and I want the recipe to taste like I slaved over it for hours.

Before I left for work this morning, I noticed a head of cauliflower and some brussel sprouts I wanted to use up. I'm a huge fan of roastingthemboth, but I knew I wanted something different.

Let's talk about the soup first. Sweet cauliflower, it's delicious. It literally took about 25 minutes from opening the refrigerator to sitting down at my dinner table to eat. But the flavor? Tastes like I spent an hour on it. And the best part about it? It's practically fat-free and vegan!

The soup is wonderful on its own, but I decided to top it with some of the brussel sprouts I made. And trust me, these sprouts are no slouch! They could easily stand on their own as a side dish and I'm pretty sure they could convert even non-brussel sprout lovers. And again, these are quick and easy and cook up in just a few minutes.

So go ahead and give this wonderful combo a try! I promise you will not be disappointed!

In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic and cauliflower to pan and stir well. Sprinkle with a little salt. Saute for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. (it may seem dry in the pan, but you want it to get a little crispy) Add broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium, cover, and boil for 10 minutes, until cauliflower is fork tender. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender, process soup until creamy and no pieces of cauliflower remain. Stir in tarragon vinegar and adjust seasoning.

In a small pan, heat olive oil and butter. Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add brussel sprouts, salt, pepper, and celery seed. Stir well. Cook for 3-5 minutes, until brussel sprouts are tender but still retain some bite to them.